The 2008 TransSyberia Rally is now officially underway and AutoSpies.com was there to cover it as the exclusive major automotive website.
Agent 001 gave you a taste and a preview of Moscow and the 2008 TransSyberian Rally a of couple days ago, with some telling photos of the lead up to the race and also a true insider’s look at the people, culture and the flavor of Russia, as only the Auto Spies can.
http://shows.autospies.com/gallery/TransSyberia-Rally-85/page36/ Until I saw with my own eyes I’ve never given the Porsche Cayenne the respect it is due.
After seeing what it is truly capable of off-road, it is the ultimate mix of speed and off-road indestructibility and prowess, of just about any SUV on earth.
And since the refresh, it has actually become a pretty nice looking ride.
http://shows.autospies.com/gallery/TransSyberia-Rally-85/page36/ As far as Moscow goes, our tour guide Alex (who was awesome!) gave us a real glimpse outside of the normal tourist areas like the Kremlin and Red Square so we could experience it like a true Muscovite.
If you ever take a trip like this, a guide like Alex can be the difference between seeing a city or country as it really is, or not experiencing the reality of what it is like or can be.
You see that a place is not at all what it’s cracked up to be in certain ways yet exceeds your expectations in others.
I was able to see that in as much progress that has been made there its ugly old ways hide in the background.
NOTHING in Russia is black or white.
NOTHING.
It doesn’t have just a few shades of gray, but many.
No matter what you do there, EVEN if you are with a local, EXPECT to get the runaround, have to grease people under the table and WAIT for EVERYTHING.
Example: Go to a nice restaurant and get seated by your waiter or waitress, then expect to wait 20 minutes before they even come back to ask you if you want a drink.
Then you order your food, and GOD only knows when it’s coming.
You get your meal, and your buddy sitting next to you get theirs 30 minutes later.
I could go on and on.
For hours! LOL!
And the people who live there who understand English, only really understand it on the surface.
But that entire aside, you are in awe when you see Red Square for the first time and realize how much history has happened there.
Like scary movies?
Experience a visit into Lenin’s tomb (his nails are still growing by the way and they trim them regularly…YIKES!).
No scary movie EVER gave me the willie’s like seeing the chalk white, emotionless faces of the guards in the tomb and the feeling of being in the midst of pure evil!
And security is not just in the public places like Red Square, it’s in EVERY place you care to go…and trust us, most of them are not employees of he establishments.
It’s like a James Bond movie goon squad hiding behind every nook and cranny, inside and out.
Try to take their picture and see them running back into their holes.
Think L.A traffic jams are bad?
Then dude’s and dudette’s, you ain’t being to Moscow!
405, 5, I-10, piece o cake, compared to the gridlock that is EVERYWHERE there.
But it WAS cool that we had a police escort out of town to the heliport where we were taken to see the second stage of the race.
I did cost the rally sponsors 4000 rubles and yes, you pay the cops on the spot when you’re at your destination.
Don’t believe me?
I actually have the payoff on video and I will put it up soon…
Thought I was in a Hollywood movie!
What an experience!
But the saddest part about all the games that are played there every single day is that the average people there are really nice (on guard, cynical and suspicious 24x7, but really nice).
And there is a HUGE separation between the haves and the have-nots.
You really feel for them because you and I can leave but for the most part, they can’t.
But guys like Alex give me hope there.
He is the future and understands things have to change albeit slowly and with constant struggle.
With the price of fuel the way it is, traveling to places like Moscow (we’re told, the most expensive city now in the world), is extremely difficult for most people so we’ve provided the virtual tour of one of the most historic places on this blue planet.
Just a few days into the event, we already have over 1500 photos (updated as we speak) in our TransSyberian Rally photo gallery.
We will be doing regular updates over the next couple weeks and 001 will be in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to cover the finish.
So keep checking back often for new photos and video of this exciting test of off-road speed and endurance.
Also take a gander at all the different photos of the cars we saw driving around Moscow and the surrounding area.
Other sites may cover events but at AutoSpies.com we make you feel like you are there on the trip with us!
http://shows.autospies.com/gallery/TransSyberia-Rally-85/page36/